Identity and getting older

By J. Keuskamp – Josina van Schaik, Netherlands

The journey of life is a magical event that goes through successive
stages, with each stage having a different identity formation. Some of these
happen automatically, and are dependent on individual genetic features or our
gender. Shakespeare portrayed an aspect of this in his Seven Ages of Man, which
describes a journey from infant to old age. Each of these stages pre-programmes
new growth into the next stage, going through melt-down portals, such as puberty,
or mid-life or menopause.

All of this suggests that these have been given as vehicles and tools in the
template of human life, to allow each person to become the creator of one’s
own self-chosen, forged and nurtured identities that evolve and change in chameleonlike
fashion, as a kaleidoscope of opportunity. Some identities, such as gender,
remain with us from birth till death; others grow, some decay or wither. While
we form these identities, build character and charisma to play our roles in
life, we create options by gathering more skills to harness new life experiences.

Inside this it tasks us with the art and challenge of keeping fluid and open,
to allow us to build a life on top of our necessary daily routines, a life
that is always tuned to the future, searching for what is new, what else, allowing
space for hidden, dormant and latent capabilities and connections that lie
seeded in the blueprint of each person, waiting to be liberated.

In the first part of life we form identities that we use to establish families,
build a career, engage in sports, and so on. But what happens as we get older
when we no longer carry the torch of bodily youth? What do the elderly identify
with? Many people view aging as a withering, not an attractive period of life,
not a stage to be looked forward to. Topaz spoke with elders from different
countries about identity and aging, and their responses paint a very different
picture, one that creates a more enlightened and bright image of what old age
may become, especially if you manage to create a meaningful life beyond the
restraints and demands of society and economics, and set out to form identities
that are natural to the purposes of life.

In the ebb and flow of life, old age can be likened to the ebbing time, ebbing
into another mode of being. When you stand on the shore and watch the ebbing
tide, it is retreating from your perspective, but that water is going somewhere
else. Yes, the body is subject to diminishment, yet the life that lives inside
it gathers ripening wisdom and has the capacity to keep evolving. The journey
of life from conception to death is like the growth of a plant. First the seed
quickens, then the stem appears, and eventually the flower is produced, and
it is the flower that then produces more seed. That flower is like the ebbing
time in life, everything is in support to that time.

There is a saying that the spirit never grows old. The esprit and joie-de-vivre
that Topaz met in older people who are on a spiritual development path marvellously
confirms this. It bears witness that life is a growing opportunity, it is a
recognition and settlement for the young that life is meant to be exciting
and elevating all the way and offers a glimpse and glow of how life may be
in the flowering of things after outward identities have fallen away. It also
shows how this is different for each person, no two people are the same, we
are each individually motivated and make decisions alone, thus each life experience
builds a crystal formation that’s uniquely identifi able and irreplaceable.

On the following pages you will find some interviews with older people from
different countries in Europe and in Israel.